December 7, 2007

Location:
Jordan School District Auxiliary Services Building
9150 S. 500 W. Sandy, UT 84092

Welcome and Introductions - PJ Giles
We went through a fun cooperative activity that forced each of us to use a specific communication style.

Theme: The next generation of NETS for Students - Margo Shirley

• Communication and Collaboration

  Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works, by Howard Pitler, Elizabeth R. Hubbell, Matt Kuhn, Kim Malenoski

  Focusing on the nine categories of instructional strategies by Robert J. Marzano this book shares ways in which technology can support and integrate these strategies. The authors provide examples of how various types of technology such as word processing applications, visual learning software, multimedia, data collection, and collaborative web resources are used to support the instructional strategies to prepare students for the 21st century. A wikispace will be developed and shared so that we can all collaborate and create learning experiences to improve student learning.

  Classroom Instruction That Works by Robert J. Marzano.
  Researched instructional strategies that improve student learning: Setting Objectives, Providing Feedback, Providing Recognition, Cues / Questions / Advance Organizers, Nonliguistic Representation, Summarizing / Note Taking, Cooperative Learning, Reinforcing Effort, Identifying Similarities / Differences, Homework and Practice, Generating and Testing Hypothesis.

  Margo has started a WIKI to share the information she found valuable from the book. http://technologythatworks.wikispaces.com
  She is hoping that other C-Forum members will contribute to this WIKI.
  Martha Crook from Park City said that many people from her staff are taking a McRel online course that is based on Marzano's book. She is going to share the WIKI with the online community.

Blog Highlight- Kelly Dumont

• K12 Online Conference 2007
  This totally online conference is released over a two week period, but you can visit the web site at any time to "attend" the sessions from the 2006 or 2007 conference. The conference has keynote presentations (some video and some PowerPoint) and some live events. You can download all of the presentations from iTunes as well. The live conference happens the last two weeks in October. A call for presentations for the 2008 conference will be in the summer.

  Kelly shared parts of a couple presentations from the 2007 conference. Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach joined us via Skype and she shared the history of the K-12 Online Conference. The first year there were 50 presentations and 54,000 people visited the web site during the two week period. This year the numbers have nearly doubled and the organizers set up a wide variety of volunteer committees to help put on the conference. Sheryl said that one school used all of the materials from the conference as part of their faculty professional development.

Over-the-shoulder - Darren Draper

• Darren sent the group an email with a link to a Google doc: What Are Your Questions? Participants added their questions to the doc.

• Darren reviewed the following Web 2.0 experiences as well.
  • CamTwist
    CamTwist is a software package that lets you add special effects to your video chats. It's also possible to stream your desktop, still images, presentations, and video. With CamTwist, you can also use multiple video chat programs at the same time.
  • U Stream
    Ustream is a platform that provides live interactive video for everyone. Anyone with a camera and an Internet connection can use Ustream to broadcast to a global audience.
  • Classroom 2.0
    Classroom20.com is a social networking site for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. Those who are "beginners" will find this a supportive community and a comfortable place to start being part of the digital dialog.
    We watched part of an interview that Darren conducted Steve Hargadon, founder of the Classroom 2.0 social network for educators. We then spoke with Steve via Skype.
  • Skype
    Skype allows users to make telephone calls from their computer to other Skype users free of charge, or to landlines and cell phones for a fee. Additional features include instant messaging, file transfer, short message service, video conferencing and its ability to circumvent firewalls. Darren is not merely showing the basic "Here's how to use Skype" He combines it with other software apps to make it a richer experience.
    Ross Rogers shared that the UCET board uses Skype's for their meetings.
  • Operator11
    Your Social Television Network
    This online tool lets you produce high quality shows right from your browser!
  • del.icio.us
    Social Bookmarking
    Darren created del.icio.us so that C-Forum members can share their bookmarks: http://del.icio.us/tag/4.cforum

Gadget - Robert Gordon

• ZoomIt for Windows
  ZoomIt is screen zoom and annotation tool for technical presentations that include application demonstrations.

• FlyGestures for Mac OSX
  Mouse Gestures the Easy Way
  Instant feedback so you know you are on the right track. Easy configuration to make your own actions.
  
  
• Another Gadget - Cal Hales
  Gyration Optical Air Mouse

UEN Updates

• eMedia: it's more then just videos. Check it out for yourself - conduct a keyword search for "grasslands" and use the info link next to the "Biomes. Grasslands." to see links the related support materials and videos.
• 47 "The Magic School Bus" episodes are now in eMedia.
• Check out UEN's revised Multimedia Resources web page. This page has a comprehensive list of web sites that provide image, sound, video and presentation resources.
• Heads up: UEN is the beginning stages of revising uen.org.
• Current Pioneer Library Trial: BookFlix
• Potential Pioneer Library Trial: Live Homework Help Rick Cline wanted to know if this would be a good product to trial.
• Jared shared the UEN Professional Development blogs: Multimedia, Productivity Tools, Strategies and Resources, Web Publishing
• January 4, 2008 UEN will be hosting the next C-Forum meeting in their lab on the U of U campus. Don't miss it.

UTIPS Updates

• Neither Julie Quinn nor Kim Broadbent were able to attend this meeting, but Cal Hales said that the Secondary Math items should be added in UTIPS within a month. Elementary Math probably won't be added until March.

USOE Updates - Doug Jones and Rick Gaisford

• Mark your calendars - the 2008 Rural Schools Conference is July 8-11, 2008, in Cedar City.
  Alan November is a keynote speaker.
• Rick shared a YouTube video called "A Vision of Students Today"
• Rick told us about his tour of the Google campus. Very impressive.
• He also shared Google's education solution for email and Google books.
• Rick also spent time with Apple. iTunes U is a way for professors to get audio and video content out to their students. It provides content to the public at no cost. (U of U's iTunes U.)
• Next step: iTunes U for K-12. Utah is one of 18 states invited to add content. Kathy and Rick are thinking about what content to have in Utah's iTunes U. Perhaps high quality student created materials and Professional Development videos - such as a C-Forum meeting. They need to gather content by June. If you are interested in working on this project email Rick Gaisford: Rick.Gaisford@schools.utah.gov
• Qwest mini grants: Rick has received about 80 applications. If you are interested in reading grants go to the Qwest building on January 10, 2007 - 11:30 to 4:30.

UCET Updates - Margo Shirley

• UCET 2.0 – Explore and Create Possibilities - February 29 and March 1, 2008
  Taylorsville High School, Granite School District
• All is moving ahead. They have many presenters but they are encouraging people to register early. Feb. 15 is the last day for early registration.

Future meeting dates:

• January 4, 2008 - Utah Education Network
• February 1, 2008- Granite School District
• April 11, 2008 - Davis School District

          

For questions or comments contact us.